Khamooshi was the mother-in-law of cleric Meysam Khamenei, one of the sons of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (Photo via Twitter)

Mother-in-law of Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei’s youngest son dies of coronavirus

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Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English

Published: 24 March ,2020: 12:48 AM GST Updated: 20 May ,2020: 10:59 AM GST

The mother-in-law of one of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s sons has died of coronavirus, state media reported on Monday.

Ezat Khamooshi died of coronavirus in a hospital in Tehran on Sunday, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

Khamooshi was the mother-in-law of cleric Meysam Khamenei, one of the sons of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

As of Monday, 1,812 in Iran have died from coronavirus, and there are 23,049 confirmed cases.

At least 16 Iranian regime figures have died due to the novel coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak in the Islamic Republic.

Earlier this month, Khamenei said that the coronavirus outbreak in Iran was “not that big of a deal” and urged Iranian citizens to pray against the virus.

“This calamity is not that big of a deal, and that there have been bigger ones in the past,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency on March 3.

One of Khamenei's top adviser was also confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.

“This calamity is not that big of a deal in our view. There have been bigger ones in the past and we have had such cases in this country,” #Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says on the #coronavirus outbreak as Tehran says its death toll jumps to 77.https://t.co/YQkpQeaA5P pic.twitter.com/2LcGreZAKw
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) March 3, 2020

Newly uncovered documents revealed that the Iranian regime covered up news of the coronavirus outbreak for at least three days in order to achieve a bigger turnout at last month’s Iranian parliamentary elections.

At the time, Khamenei accused Western powers of trying to dissuade voters from turning out at the local elections, even as coronavirus was sweeping across the country.

“Their media did not miss the tiniest opportunity for dissuading Iranian voters and resorting to the excuse of disease and the virus,” Khamenei said at the time.

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